IRS Becomes Our Lifeline In Kwara, Says Gov

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State has said that the advent of an Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) by him has been the lifeline for his administration in recent time to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.

Ahmed who was addressing journalists in Ilorin, the state capital said though his, was a government of continuity as an offshoot of his boss (Dr. Bukola Saraki’s) administration, he completed the ongoing projects of the regime, he all the same had initiated new ones too.

The governor said he came in to experience depleting resources, particularly statutory funds from the federation accounts, he had employed with zeal, internally generated revenue mechanisms to stay afloat.

Before he created the KWIRS he said, the revenue collection culture in the state had been in its lowest ebb where accountability was not featuring, a system that he replaced with the revenue service that had paid off tremendously since 2016.

Ahmed was boastful at the press briefing that the state had moved from the level of generating a average of N600 million in a month to N1.7billion pointing out that from January to May this year in particular, he had been able to generate N7.7billion.

Meanwhile, the governor said under an established Infrastructure Fund known as IF-K, his government had focused developmental projects in the education, roads, water, agriculture, commerce, health and human development sectors.

For this, he said a sum of N11.4billion was earmarked for infrastructural projects in the three senatorial districts in the state out of which N3.9billion in the central, N3.5billion in the south and N2.2billion in the north.

These projects covered water distribution network in Ilorin, upgrade of health facilities in the state, Kwara Land administration secretariat, Light-up Kwara streetlight projects, Independent power project and a ring under-pass bridge projects.